Rake
by bearhow
Summary: Raven, the high preistess of Azarath returns to earth to leave her son with the Titans, even if it means meeting crossing paths with the man she once loved.


**I regret nothing**

Streaks of gold peeked through the wine colored curtains that felt like hot laser beams blasting against Ravens eyes even behind her eyelids. She pinched her eyes shut, letting out a small grumble of annoyance and discomfort. She got to a seated position in her bed, rolling her stiff neck and shoulders. She could feel her demonic power making the finishing touches on healing the soreness and tares in her muscles and tendons. Opening her eyes she grimaced at the sight of her chambers, at least what wasn't burnt to ashes.

Luckily the robe hanging on her bedpost had remained untouched.

She draped the silken cloth around her pale naked form and made for the window. Her fingers slipped through the curtain to part it slightly giving her just enough of a view of her home.

Azarath.

She leaned against the window, the cool glass sending a small shock through her body. She dismissed it considering she had experienced plenty of new and unusual sensations the night before. Just thinking about it made her tingle in unexpected places. Familiar places.

Her head slumped to the side, glancing at her bed mate still sleeping soundly, then around at the charred remains of her chambers.

"Thank goodness we're both fireproof." She muttered to herself.

"If we weren't then we'd be waking up in a completely different place." She smiled, remembering that his hearing was sharper than hers. She sauntered back to the bed, sliding in beside him and placing her head onto his chest. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began fiddling with her wavy violet locks.

They stayed there in quiet comfort for a while until her fingers found their way to the turquoise colored gem he wore around his neck. She could feel its mystic energy. The sheer power it contained may have overwhelmed some, but not her. The night before they unleashed only a fraction of the internal forces they usually saved for their opponents.

Hence the charred room.

"I hope there's a spell to fix your room." He mumbled sleepily.

"You planning on spending more time in here?"

He snorted, smoke floating above her head. "I seem to recall you invited me in."

"Well why would I use a spell to clean it when I could just have your lazy ass do it."

He fingers stopped playing it it's her hair. "Excuse me? Lazy?"

She got to her elbows to look down at him. "Well all you do is sit by me waiting for something bad to happen."

Drake mocked being offended. "You do realize that you literally quoted the job description of, 'royal guard to the high priestess of Azarath'."

She rolled her eyes until they landed on a certain scar located just below his heart that made her breath catch. She hadn't noticed it until now. The night before they had been consumed by the passions of the fires of hell and Dragonfire.

He followed her line of sight. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She sighed before replacing her head back onto his chest. "No."

He continued to fiddle with her hair, something she found amazingly soothing. "Like I've always said. Whenever you want to talk, just let me know."

She nodded with appreciation. "Since when are you one to talk about feelings?"

He chuckled. "Well our relationship seems to have changed. Don't people talk about their feelings as things move forward?"

Moving forward? Is that what was happening? She knew she had to, she wasn't stupid, but was this it? Was being a with Drake moving on?

She hurriedly got back to a seated position, it was so fast is started to concern him. "Raven? What is it?"

"Sorry," She began to message her temples. Strangely being in Azarath was very calming for her psyche. Maybe it had to do with being in such a peaceful environment, but over the years of being here, she rarely felt the need to for meditation. "I-it's just…"

Drake leaned up onto his hands. "It's hard to move on?" She sighed with a nod of her head. "Well you're not the only one struggling if that makes you feel any better?"

She looked into his comforting hazel eyes, still filled with familiar pain. "Kole?"

He shrugged. "Kole, Elsa, you never forget the people you've loved. It's a little harder for me. Dragons mate for life after all."

The phrase shocked her. "Then, what did we just do?"

He laughed. "Don't worry. I think this was different?"

She raised a brow. "How?"

Drake moved closer to her, teasing in his tone. "I think the dragon in me sees you as a challenge."

Subject officially changed, Raven couldn't stop the grin spreading across her face, or the tiny glint of red in her eyes. "Is that so?" With serrated teeth she pounced like a jungle cat, but his reflexes were just as good. In one fluid motion, Drake had her pinned beneath him and with one hand grabbed both her wrists and held them above her head.

With his other hand he cupped her face at the jawline. He leaned in until the tips of their noses were touching and with a husk to his voice whispered, "Nice try."

Heat erupted between them when his lips caught hers. Raven had never noticed, or tried, but fire never bothered her. It took this long for her to realize that she was fireproof, which worked out wonderfully for them.

She wriggled her hands free and began scouring his back with her nails and his fiery bites marked her skin as they clashed. Limbs entwining and bodies arcing, hands and mouths and teeth and tongues searching desperately for each other and for what they've lost, aware they were doing it, but unable and unwilling to stop. They could both sense it in each other; the craving for nearness, for comfort, for the blind, white-hot oblivion of their shared passion. It was wrong and it was ungrateful and they both knew it, and the anger it brought stoked their lust until it roared with a blaze rivaling the one that was incinerating whatever remained of her room.

Nearness. That's all this was, they told themselves. The desire for nothing more than to be close to someone who cared about them, and after years of friendship and trust, they wanted to be close to one another.

Coming together again, Drake was surprised to find himself on top this time.

"Not… bad," Raven said breathlessly beneath him.

He removed himself from inside her and flopped back onto the bed. "'Not bad', is that the most I can hope for?"

She shrugged, rolling to her side and propping herself up on her elbow. "Well I've only been with one other person, so it's not like I have a wide range of experience. You on the other hand—"

He cut her off. "Just so you know, I do not value one of you over the other. You were all amazing and I will cherish you and them always."

She felt herself relax into her bed. "Well that's sweet I guess."

He smiled looking around the room. "Although each time we've done something similar to the bedroom. We burnt it down, Elsa froze it before I melted the ice making it foggy and wet, and Kole created giant krystal pillars." They both laughed before settling into comforting silence. "Do you think about him?"

The small smile on her face vanished before she turned away from him onto her other side. "Always."

—_**:0:—**_

"Dad is mom okay? She's just standing there."

Raven knew that she had been staring in one spot for some time now, looking blankly at the wall of her bed chamber as if she was expecting it to come alive and start talking to her. This shouldn't be this hard. All she had to do was open a portal, drop off her son, and come home. Simple, and yet she couldn't bring herself to use her powers to transport them to Jump City.

"Yeah, just give her a minute." She felt Drake approach her from behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Raven. We've talked about this for weeks now."

"I know." She sighed. "I just…What if…"

"Then we'll deal with it. Just like we said."

Raven felt another hand slip into hers. "It's all good mom, we're here with you."

She smiled at her son, meeting the same violet gaze with her own. "Thanks Acheron." She removed the hood from off his head and started running her fingers through his brown locks, her eyes catching the glint of the violet gem on his forehead.

"Mom/Raven!"

"Okay, okay!" _Enough stalling._ Finally she opened the portal. _No turning back now._

They stepped through the black abyss, stepping out onto the familiar rooftop of Titans tower.

For a short moment, her heart stopped.

It was just as she remembered it, as if it was holding its breath just waiting just for her. She remembered the basketball and volleyball courts, and her teammates pestering her to join their game, only for her to settle as a referee. She remembered the edge of the rooftop where she would spend her time meditating, or the time when her former team leader told her that each day was an opportunity for change. She heard the ocean crashing against the rocks below, which only led to a small crack in her heart that she forced herself to ignore.

She took a deep breath. Bringing herself out of the ocean of memories and back into the present.

Speaking of former team leader, the new Titans leader, Robin, stood with his arms folded and a scowl across his face.

"Your late?" Damian Wayne stepped towards them. "I don't have time to wait around for you."

"We keeping you from something important? Like your bottle and nap?" It was no secret that Damian didn't have many admirers, Drake clearly not one of them, and he always made sure to comment on the fact that Damian was shorter for his age.

"Settle down tough guy." Once again, Raven felt her heart break and throat tighten when she saw the other Titan on the roof. Isabelle Logan, the spitting image of her mother, except for green skinned and pointed ears, put herself in front of Damian, but her attention was on Acheron. "Hey Ash, good to see you again." The normally confident Acheron gave a nervous wave.

"Let's get on with this. We have trainings to get to." Damian stepped back. "Show us what you got?"

Raven gave her son a comforting hand on his shoulder telling him that it was okay. Dressed in a cloak similar to his mother's, he removed his hood before letting a glowing ray of light consume him from the gem on his forehead. Damian and Isabelle stepped back blocking the light with the arms, but Raven and Drake were used to it. The light shot into the air before revealing a dragon, black as night with spots of glowing purple between its scales.

Damian watched on, seemingly unphased by the display of power by the young dragon Knight. His parents however watched with pride. Drake had mentioned that knights usually didn't become fully fledged until later in their teens, but Acheron was an accomplished warrior at fifteen. A rarity as far as Drake was concerned.

"Not gonna lie," Raven breath hitched in her throat when Isabelle stepped up beside her, "that's pretty cool."

Raven smiled half heartedly. "Yes I'm proud of him."

Isabelle nodded. "Come on. I'll show you where he'll be staying." Raven followed, but only after she was sure Drake and Damian would behave themselves.

Once inside Isabelle led Raven through the tower to a room she was well acquainted with.

"This was your old room right?" Isabelle stopped at a door that still has her name etched into the metal, but had been covered by a new plaque.

Raven shook her head with a smile. _Typical Logan question._ "Yes this was mine."

Isabelle typed a code into the scanner, and the door slid open. _That's new_. "Go check it out. We saved it for Acheron, but you know a mom has to inspect it and all that."

Raven stepped passed her. "Well it certainly looks like my room. Only brighter." The door behind her suddenly shut, trapping her inside. "Isabelle?" She banged on the door, "what is this?"

"Don't be too mad at her. I kind of arranged this parent trap."

She should have known. He empathy must be going soft if she wasn't even able to sense HIM of all people. She took a few, quick, meditative breaths before turning around to face him.

"Parent trap?"

Garfield, or Changeling as he was known by now, shuffled on his bare feet. "It's a, um, movie where two kids, uh, you know what never mind."

Raven folded her arms over her chest. "So why did you 'parent trap' me?"

He must have seen through her obvious false facade to block him out, he always could, as he approached her cautiously. "Can't you just be happy to see me? I mean, I'm super happy to see you. And wow, you look great. Is that an Azarath original dress or something?"

Her shoulders rose to further try and hide herself, but she knew her rising blush was obvious. "Thanks, and yes." Her gaze averted. "You look good too."

He puffed his chest out, showing off the definition of his muscles through a red and white, short sleeved uniform. "Thanks."

"So is that why I'm here?" She asked after some silence. "To compliment each other on our new fashion?"

He wasted no time in answering. "I wanted to see you. I haven't really seen you since you left and I just wanted to say… I know why you did it."

She raised a brow. "Oh?"

He approached her. "It took me a while to come to terms with what happened. When you left I was angry, when we broke up I was angry, but I've accepted it."

She narrowed her eyes. "You think this is about you? I left because my people needed me."

She flinched when Gar lifted his shirt, showing her a scar just below his heart. "You sure this had nothing to do with it?"

She turned her head away, the ocean of memories flooding back once again. The blood. The agony. The blade piercing both him and Drake. Drake had taken the bulk of the attack when he jumped in front of it, but Gar was just as injured.

"They came for me." She shuddered. "The Koraki."

He nodded. "The new religion dedicated to your father—"

"The cult dedicated to ME!" The words hit them both like a sledgehammer. This was not something that Gar had known.

"To y-you?"

She felt her throat tighten. Her hands reaching for her arms as a way to possibly protect herself. "When we helped rebuild Azarath, they had named me the high priestess, but I turned them down. Some were okay with it, others, like the Koraki, weren't."

Gar opened his mouth, but slowly closed it. She knew the question he was going to ask, and he knew the answer she would give.

"Why him? Why did you pick him over me?"

She looked back at him with her dark brows furrowed in anger. "It wasn't some contest Gar! My home is Azarath and your home—"

"Is wherever you went!" He closed the distance between them, startling her at first, and grabbed her hands. "Raven," he said softly, "I would have gone with you to the ends of, whatever world we found ourselves in. Deep down, I think you know that."

She looked up into his eyes, those emerald pools she always found herself lost in. "I've always known that." She slipped her hands out of his. "But I wasn't going to take that chance. Not with you."

Once again the former pair of lovers fell into an uncomfortable silence, until he spoke again. "I just wanted you to know, that I forgave you a long time ago." This seemed to catch her off guard for a moment. "No matter what happens, I'll always love you, and you'll always have a place in my heart." He leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on her cheek. "Now it's time for you forgive yourself."

Before she knew it, she found herself alone in her old room.

—_**:0:—**_

"I think Ash is gonna do just fine as one of the Titans. Even if the little twerp Damian is in charge."

"Uh-Huh." Raven said disinterestedly.

"That Isabelle might have a thing for him though. I just hope the rock and roller will be gentle with him."

Raven continued to stare blankly out the window over the dimension of Azarath. "Yeah."

"Also I'm coming out of the closet. Landon says it's about time and we shouldn't be ashamed anymore. Believe it or not, he likes to be on the bottom."

"Sounds great." Was her dry reply.

A few moments later, she felt him sit beside her on the bed. "How did it go meeting with Gar?"

She looked at him with wide eyes. "How did you know?"

"Deductive reasoning. When you came back to the roof of the tower, you were all wobbly on the knees, shaky in the shoulders, and all around disturbed. Plus I arranged it."

Now she appeared somewhat betrayed. "You what?"

"Hold on," he said defensively. "Ever since we started discussing Acheron joining the Titans you've been acting like a volcano is about to erupt in the center of Azarath."

"I have not." She stood up in a hurry determined to put some distance between them, but Drake wouldn't have it.

"Yes you have, and whether you admit it or not you've needed closure from what happened."

She spun around, facing him with anger glowing in her eyes. "It's not up to you to decide what I do or don't need."

"So I was wrong?" He stood up and began to follow her. "Tell me I'm wrong and I'll apologize and go sleep on the couch."

She narrowed her eyes, the glow of red slowly fading away. "It still wasn't any right of yours to do that."

He sighed. "Your right. I'm sorry."

She tilted her head. "And yet your going to do stuff like this anyways?"

"More than likely." She rolled her eyes and went back to the bed, slipping off her robe and into her nightgown, and settled into the sheets. "So am I on the couch?"

"Just shut up and cuddle with me." He had no problem honoring her request.


End file.
